Meet Galileo:
We are cat/dog/house sitting for our friends this weekend. Galileo seems to like having his photo taken. At least, moreso than Siena, the pup does. She would rather bring one of her toys to me than pose for a picture. Moments before this shot, Galileo licked Siena on the nose, and in this photo, Galileo is eying Siena, plotting his next move.
Last weekend Matte and I got out our set of 120 dominoes we got from his nephews as a wedding gift (the only item we registered for at Target).
I’m pretty new to the dominoes thing, although I did play it with Matte and his parents last Christmas (and lost miserably). When Matte and I started playing last Saturday, I won like five hands (do they call dominoes games “hands?” I dunno.) in a row. I was quite pleased with myself. When we started the next game, Matte put down his doubles tile and I looked in my tiles to find something to play on it. I had nothing, so I had to draw a tile. And another. And another. And still another. And one more. And then again. And again. and again. Until the thirty-second tile I drew was playable. I drew thirty-two tiles on one play, giving myself a total of 39 tiles in my hand before I had a play. Now, I’m not sure we’re playing right, because I think there should be a limit to the number of dominoes one can draw before the other opponent lets them cheat or something. But I eventually drew something useful, and having more than quintupled the number of tiles in my hand, I had plenty of dots to choose from throughout the game.
So, guess who won this hand?
No, not me.
Matte won. But he cleared his last tile, and only got 19 points from my hand. Nineteen measly points. That, my friends, is what they call strategy.
My driver’s license photo improves with (my) age.
Before (photo taken in 1994 and recycled in 2003):
Bad hair, excessively round face, and rounded back and shoulders. I look a bit like a turtle. But, at least this guy would like me.
After (changing to my new name requires changing my photo too):
Better, yes?
Or is it odd and disgusting to hear a woman in the ladies room of a corporate office do a “hochh…patooey” in the sink?
Today in my continuous quest to change my last name, I took a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles. And I learned my lesson the last time, when I went to the Social Security Administration Office to get my new card. This time, I had an appointment before I showed up at the office.
And the appointment? It worked like a charm. Fifteen minutes, in and out. Awesome. I even got to take a new picture for my license so I won’t look like I’m 18 anymore.
I had a weird thought though, when the clerk had me press my thumb into the scanner to check my fingerprint. The machine needed a few tries to scan the tiny lines on my thumb. For just an instant, I thought, “Oh, she’s going to tell me my thumbprint doesn’t match the one on file for me. Like someone stole my identity, and my one-of-a-kind thumbprint. I imagined her saying I’m sorry, you’re not Catheroo. I can’t process your license for you.” But then, just like that, it recognized me.
Whew. That was close.
Yes, I joined the throngs of fans and went to a midnight release. Rachel, Matte and I decided to do this at around 9:30 tonight. We went to Books, Inc. in Mountain View because I heard they were selling books to those who had not preordered. We arrived and waited in the line of people who spontaneously decided to get our copies tonight. The pre-paid people received their numbered tickets, and we heard them hand out tickets beyond number 200. We thought we’d be sitting outside for hours, waiting for the numbered folks to get their books before we got ours. But just our luck, when 12:01 struck, they let the last-minute sallys in to pay for their books, and GAVE us our books.
We were out of the store by 12:10. While the planners and pre-payers waited for their number to be called. Sweet! And 20% of the FULL priced-book went to Mountain View schools. Bonus!
********UPDATE 11:00 pm********
I finished the book. All 759 pages of it. I won’t mention anything here, just that I refused to put it down (except for the 5 hour stint helping a friend move today.). Who moves on the day the final Harry Potter book comes out anyway?
“I know! I was like all, ‘I dunno!’
And you were like all ‘I dunno!’
And I was like all, ‘Wull…shit! I don’t eeeven know! Ohmigod!'”